Young Apprenticeship Completion Certificates and progress recording

1. Young Apprenticeship Completion Certificates and progress recording Information for LLSCs and Partnerships November 2005

2. Introduction This document sets out the arrangements for the recording of student progress during the Young Apprenticeship and the issue of Young Apprenticeship Completion Certificates.

3. Contents • Background • Timings • Young Apprenticeship Programme Completion Certificate • Young Apprenticeship progress recording • Roles and responsibilities • Summary process timetable • Enclosed electronic documents: • Sample certificate • Young Apprenticeship Progress Log • Sample coversheet for logging Certificate request with an SSC/Sector Body

4. Background At the outset of the programme, it was decided that a Completion Certificate should be developed which: • does not represent a qualification in its own right • takes into consideration post-16 Certification arrangements for Apprenticeships and the upcoming Specialised Diploma In addition it was agreed that mechanisms must be set in place to ensure that the activity and achievements of those pupils who participate in the Young Apprenticeship Programme are documented so that they are of maximum use for the young people themselves.

5. Timings Arrangements for documenting progress and achievements should commence immediately if they have not already been put in place. The amount of “back-dating” of information also needs to be agreed with schools. • For cohort 1 - we recognise that because of timing, there may need to be a focus on retrospectively documenting this information during the autumn term • Similarly, arrangements and progress information for cohort 2 pupils may also need to be captured retrospectively for the early part of this term

6. Young Apprenticeship Programme Completion Certificate 1 • Will formally recognise those young people who have participated in and completed the full two academic years of the Young Apprenticeship programme. It will be issued in July of the year of completion • Young people who do not complete the full two year programme will not receive a Young Apprenticeship Certificate • As it is not a qualification in its own right, the Certificate will not list qualifications achieved. It will simply be a statement of participation over the full two years, stating the name of the sector programme and endorsed by the relevant Sector Skills Council(s) or Sector Body • Registering a young person for their certificate if they complete the full two years of the programme will be a mandatory requirement on all Partnerships

7. Young Apprenticeship Programme Completion Certificate 2 • In cohort 1, the cost to the SSCs of producing these certificates will be funded by the DfES • For future cohorts, the cost will be met by the Lead Partner out of the funding provided for the programme by the LSC. Further information will be provided later this year • The Certificate will have Apprenticeship branding and will have a distinct currency with employers, SSCs, schools, colleges and higher education institutes to ensure that all options remain open to young people at age 16. This will be achieved by implementing a supporting communication strategy • The Young Apprenticeship Programme Completion Certificate will be issued by all SSCs to a standard format to ensure consistency and understanding, in line with the design of the Post-16 Apprenticeship Certificate

8. Young Apprenticeship progress recording • To support a young person in demonstrating their distinct activity and achievements during the Young Apprenticeship (that activity which is distinct from the qualifications gained, and activities undertaken, by all pupils at Key Stage 4,) DfES / LSC are providing a template for a “Young Apprenticeship Progress Log” • This Log is designed to record key information that a young person will require when they need to make an application for their next progression step (typically around March in Year 11.) Ensuring that progress and achievement records of YA activities are kept for each young person is a requirement for Partnerships’ participation in the programme Important: Many young people already record their achievements through Progress File. This is designed to help young people manage their own learning and career development. It will not be mandatory to use this template if the Progress File (or Improving on Learning Performance system etc.) is used in participating schools. Details of Progress File can be found at www.dfes.gov.uk/progressfile • Lead Partners should ensure that they discuss with each participating school what the most appropriate recording tool is for their Young Apprentices.Partnerships will need to be able to evidence that this recording is in place either via a school process or via the Log template

9. Young Apprenticeship progress recording cont. • Using the Young Apprenticeship Progress Log: Where a Lead Partner and school do decide to use the template, they can use the electronic version provided, which includes notes for young people on how to complete it. The log can then be stored electronically or a paper version printed, depending on local arrangements • This log can also be used by the Lead Partner/ School to encourage a young person who has not completed a full two years on the programme to keep a record of what they have actually achieved in the time they did spend on the YA • By the end of December 2005, Sector Skills Council(s) or Sector Body will also provide a generic accompanying statement about the Young Apprenticeship programme in their sector, which the young person can also give to a potential employer / next destination at the time of applying

10. Roles and Responsibilities DfES/ LSC: • Communicating the Certification and progress recording process to Partnerships and all key stakeholders • Provide the template for submitting a request for Certificates • Providing the templates, guidelines and supporting statements for the Young Apprenticeship Progress Log to Partnerships for use where needed • Supporting the SSCs to set up the relevant systems to manage the Certification process • For cohort 1: to work with York Consulting to ensure that the records of pupils on programme at completion date can be validated with the SSCs LLSCS: • Understanding the requirements of the Certification Process, the documents involved, roles & responsibilities, timeline in order to answer any queries Partnerships may have locally

11. Roles and Responsibilities Partnerships (Lead Partner) • Understanding the requirements of the Certification Process, the documents involved, roles & responsibilities, timeline • Ensuring that students, their mentors, schools and employers understand how the Certification process works • Discuss with the schools involved what is the most appropriate way of recording and communicating the young person’ achievements in a way and timeframe that supports their progression plans and agree responsibilities • Ensuring that the templates and evidence gathering systems are in place to support either the use of the Young Apprenticeship Personal Achievement Log or consistent with schools’ KS4 processes • Ensuring that data is gathered on an on-going basis and is accurate • Support the young person or school to ensure that this information is documented in the relevant timeframes • Ensuring that the names of any young people who exit (or join as replacement pupils early on in) the programme are immediately notified to York Consulting - michael.dodd@yorkconsulting.co.uk

12. Roles and Responsibilities SSCs: • Ensuring that the standard national systems and templates are in place to receive data from the Lead Partners for the issue of Certificates • Ensure that the unique serial code numbering system is in place for each certificate • Issuing the certificates to the deadline • Developing the SSC statements to support the “Young Apprenticeship Progress Log.” • Providing reports to DfES/LSC on Completion Certificates issued

13. Coversheet for Certificate Requests • During the Spring Term, Partnerships will receive an electronic coversheet for submitting certificate requests to the SSCs. A sample of this template accompanies this pack • As mentioned, the issue of a Certificate is dependent on information being provided by the Lead Partner of each Partnership to the relevant SSC

14. Summary Process Timetable • Overall process approved • Partnerships discuss the content of the “YA Progress Log” with pupils’ schools and agree how this information will be gathered and tracked • C2 Young Apprentices start on Programme • Partnerships explain Certification arrangements and evidence gathering to C2 YAs (for example, during an induction event) • C1 progress data gathering undertaken retrospectively • Where used, Lead partner ensures that individual details loaded onto YA Progress Log template provided by DfES/LSC (one electronic log completed per Young Apprentice)Lead partner / school ensures that individual C2 activity starts to be recorded e.g. workplace induction activity undertaken, health and safety induction etc. Autumn 2005

15. Summary Process Timetable • On-going recording • Lead partner /school to ensure that logs or equivalent are reviewed at the end of every term to ensure that data is being captured accurately and consistently • Pupils begin to apply for next steps on their progression route. Partnerships/schools to ensure that Progress Log (or equivalent) is completed for all young people • Lead Partner /school finalises individual records before YA’s finish the Programme, including qualifications taken and full record of all work experience and wider YA activity Cohort 1 Year 2 / Cohort 2 Year 1 Cohort 1 – March 2006 Cohort 1 – Mid-June 2006

16. Summary Process Timetable • Lead Partner also prepares the coversheets which will need to be submitted to the relevant SSCs. This to include a home contact address for the pupil if the Lead Partner believes they will be unable to issue the Certificates to the pupil in July. • Lead Partner submits coversheets to SSCs • SSC sends acknowledgement of receipt • SSC produce Certificates as appropriate (issued to Lead Partner or pupil direct) • Certificates issued • SSC issue confirmation summary to Lead Partner of Certificates issued (using original coversheet template) • SSC provide report on Certificates issued to DfES/LSC • On-going requests for replacements/ duplicates to be directed to SSCs Cohort 1 – Mid-June 2006 Cohort 1 – July 2006 Cohort 1 – August 2006